1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus as represented by inkjet printers and the like and to an image forming method capable of being executed in the context of such an image forming apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to an improved technique for use during trial printing of images on recording paper.
2. Conventional Art
Conventional image forming operations in inkjet printers are such that one sheet among a plurality of sheets of paper housed in a supply tray is first delivered to a transport path, this paper being supplied by way of the transport path to an image forming unit. In addition, at this image forming unit, ink droplets are jetted onto the surface of the paper to form a prescribed image, and this paper is thereafter discharged to an outlet tray.
With such inkjet printers, in the event that there is a desire to confirm, on actual recording paper, image layout indicating arrangement of graphic-type images and text-type images, image forming operations may be executed in “trial printing mode.” For example, prior to executing image forming operations for color image data in order to form an image made up of a plurality of colors, image forming operations for all image data might be executed using only black ink. That is, image forming operations for graphic data and/or text data comprising a plurality of colors may for example be executed such that the color black is uniformly used for all color data, permitting image layout on recording paper to be confirmed on the actual recording paper.
Furthermore, one publication disclosing image forming operations in a “trial printing mode” is Patent Application Publication Kokai No. H8-181849 (1996), published in Japan. Disclosed in this publication is extraction of the outline portions of all images present in image data and execution of trial printing based on only the outline image data so obtained.
As described above, in conventional “trial printing modes,” image forming operations have been executed in monochrome for all acquired image data, and/or outlined portions of all images have been extracted and the extracted outlines of all images have been drawn on recording paper. For this reason, even where it was desired to confirm layout with respect to image data that represented only a portion of the total image data, image forming operations were executed with respect to all images. In other words, even locations not requiring confirmation, for which printing was not required, were subjected to trial printing. Accordingly, with conventional “trial printing modes,” there has been a limit as to the extent to which ink consumption could be reduced and the extent to which the amount of time required for trial printing operations to be carried out could be reduced.
Furthermore, prior to executing image forming operations using data for a plurality of color images, there is a desire to be able to confirm the color(s) on recording paper for only a portion of the color images. However, with conventional “trial printing modes,” because image forming operations for color images are executed with respect to all image data, it has in practice not been possible to carry out image forming operations in a “trial printing mode” that would be capable of fulfilling this desire.